


'Til The Cows Come Home

by upset_and_confused



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Blood and Injury, Canon-Typical Violence, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, Injury, Kissing, M/M, Missing Scene, Mutual Pining, Pining, Vulcan Kisses, bickering as a love language, idioms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:13:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26602762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/upset_and_confused/pseuds/upset_and_confused
Summary: Spock is bleeding and Bones can't stop worrying. Spock is laughing and Bones can't stop staring. Spock is asking to kiss him... and Bones can't take advantage of his injured vulcan crush like that.
Relationships: Leonard "Bones" McCoy/Spock
Comments: 27
Kudos: 183





	'Til The Cows Come Home

**Author's Note:**

> I really wanted to play in the space that Beyond left after Bones said Spock was delirious. I am sure everyone and their trekkie grandmother has already written this exact thing, and I'm also four Christian years too late, but please accept my take on what happened in the cave after Bones saw Spock laugh for the first time.

“I don’t know what he would do without you,” Bones said, looking at Spock. The vulcan was currently slumped against the wall of the cave, blood still staining his uniform. He watched his eyes fall slightly; the news about Ambassador Spock, the thought of leaving Starfleet, the thought of leaving-- Jim. Spock wouldn’t say it but Bones could feel the anguish coming off him in waves. 

He couldn’t imagine. 

Well. 

That’s not true. 

Memories of an empty hospital bed, of signed divorce papers, of custody papers telling him to keep as far away from Jo as he could… Yeah, Bones knew how it felt to lose just about everything. 

“You know, me, on the other hand,” Bones said, trying for a little smile as he attempted to cut the tension, attempted to not think about how empty the ship would feel without his favorite sparring partner, his accidental friend, his… well, without Spock. “I’ll probably throw a party.” he said, smiling over at Spock in something that was too tender to be sarcastic. 

The next thing that happened was something Bones may or may not have been daydreaming about for almost three years: he watched as Spock started to...  _ laugh _ .

He watched his stoic vulcan friend break into a full toothy smile and laugh, his cheeks rounding out as he tipped his head back and giggled. Bones felt his heart, coiled tight with anxiety and terror, ease slightly watching it. He smiled back, letting out his own huff of laughter before turning to look away, feeling weirdly shy in the face of something so very adorable. He looked back and watched his smile just long enough for his brain to shift from wondering what it would feel like to kiss that grin, to the realization that that grin should absolutely not be there. All his fear rushed back in a heartbeat as he turned his body to Spock. 

“Good god you’re getting delirious!” He moved across the cave and over Spock as quickly and gently as he was able, his hands moving to the recently closed-up wound. Bones winced at the awful, ugly, scar he had left but other than that it was still holding. The doctor tentatively ran a thumb over it, just trying to reassure himself that it was closed, that he wasn’t going to be holding Spock’s insides in his hands, that Spock was, for now, safe. 

“What will you do without me, Leonard?” 

Bones felt a physical pang at the use of his first name, his heart only tightening more at the soft, amused, tone being used. He rocked back on the balls of his feet, looking at Spock, the vulcan still smiling and looking at him with, well, Bones wasn’t vain enough to call it ‘affection’ but… he couldn’t really think of another word for how Spock was gazing at him. 

Bones opened his mouth, ready to make a joke about throwing a party, about making sure Jim only made emotional choices from the moment Spock stepped off the ship, about finally having some peace and quiet. But he couldn’t. What would he do without Spock? He had no god damn clue. 

Spock smiled again and Bones watched as he raised his hand, ignoring the way Bones moved to stop him and extending two fingers to the doctor, his smile softening around the edges as he did. “Because I know I will miss you very much.” 

Bones felt himself blush down to his toes, he knew damn well what Spock was offering and, lordy, if it wasn’t tempting. He reached out and very gently took Spock’s covered wrist, looking into his large dark eyes and inclining his head. “Spock you’re outta your mind with blood loss, I ain’t gonna take advantage of you in this state.” 

He watched those brilliant vulcan eyes try to process what had just been said between the grief and the injury and fuck him if Bones didn’t feel like an absolute villain for turning Spock down, but Bones wasn’t about to take advantage of an injury. If Spock still wanted to kiss him when he was all healed up, Bones would kiss him until Spock got sick of him, but kissing an emotionally compromised, injured Spock in a cave felt… wrong. He watched Spock mentally button himself back up, tuck his emotions back into their corners, and withdraw. 

It hurt like nothing else could, but from a purely medical standpoint, Bones was glad of it. He carefully settled Spock’s hand in the vulcan’s lap, giving it a gentle pat before moving to sit next to him again. Bones watched out of the corner of his eye as Spock tried to center himself again. He shifted to look forward. Good. This was all good. This was how it should be. 

They stayed like that for a little while. Spock regaining control of his emotions. Bones mentally running through everything he knew about overnight survival and vulcan medical care. 

It was something close to an hour of silence later that Bones felt slight movement next to him. He looked over, worried that Spock was in pain again, but instead he watched as a minute shiver ran through the vulcan. Spock was looking straight ahead, obviously attempting to ignore the chill he was feeling and not bother Bones with it. Bones felt his heart squeeze in his chest, and without even taking a moment to think about what he was doing, reached out and tugged Spock into his side. He felt the vulcan stiffen slightly as Bones held him close to his much warmer body and rested a hand over the injury, feeling the cauterized wound and the steady heartbeat under the skin. 

“‘Tween the bloodloss and the cave and the fact that it’s getting dark, figure we’re both gonna get real cold real quick,” Bones said gruffly, looking straight ahead. “Can’t let you freeze to death ‘fore you get to work makin’ a buncha little Spocks, now can I?” 

Bones felt Spock stiffen for just a moment before melting into him, fitting into his side perfectly and giving a tired nod. Bones chanced a look down and saw Spock letting his eyes droop shut. “Hey now.” He gave him a careful squeeze. “Don’t fall asleep on me.” 

Spock shook his head. “I am not sleeping, doctor, I am simply tired.” 

Bones started to argue but then shook his head- of course Spock was tired. He pressed his hand a little more firmly over the vulcan’s heart and nodded. “Alright, Spock, that’s alright, just stay…” awake, alive, with me, with me, with me, “awake, okay?” 

Spock nodded against his shoulder and Bones settled back against the wall. 

Later, much later, Bones had fallen into a precarious spot between sleep and wakefulness when he heard the soft voice. 

“Leonard.”

The voice felt far away from where he was but Bones let out a soft noise of response.

“When I am fully healed and you are confident in my lack of delirium.”

Bones was dragging himself back to the real world, positive this conversation was happening in a dream and wanting to get out before he allowed himself to get his hopes up.

“Will you kiss me then?”

Bones’ heart pitter-pattered in his chest and he forced his eyes open, blinking down at Spock who was looking up at him with soft brown eyes. That had to have been a dream. There was no way Spock had actually asked Bones to kiss him when he was fully healed. He continued looking down at the vulcan who seemed to be waiting on a response. 

Bones swallowed, his mouth dry and his sluggish brain trying to figure out a way to respond. 

Spock tilted his head. “Leonard?” 

There was that name again. Bones tapped anxiously on Spock’s side and then laughed a little, trying to find a way to turn this into a quip that would keep Spock from feeling too awkward in the future when the damn vulcan felt honorbound to follow through on the request he was making in the throes of delirium. 

“Tell ya what, Spock: You get all healed up,” Bones said finally, “and you remember this conversation and you still wanna kiss me,” he sighed, satisfied that he had given Spock plenty out outs in that, “and I will kiss you until the cows come home, alright?” 

He felt Spock tilt his head in confusion next to him. “I am unaware of what the geographical location of bovines to their place of residence would have to do with kissing,” he said before settling back into Bones, “But I believe we have, as you would put it, ‘a deal’.”

Bones smiled, closing his eyes and resting his cheek on Spock’s head, imagining a world where Spock really did wake up and ask to kiss him when he woke up fully healed with plans to stay in Starfleet. Hell, he imagined a world where Spock popped up, kissed him, and asked him to come adopt a whole brood of vulcan babies-- not that he would do that to Jim, but was a nice thought. 

“Sure thing, sugar,” he replied. “We gotta deal.” 

“I am his attending physician, let me the  _ fuck through _ !” Bones was on a warpath at the Yorktown hospital. He and the rest of the crew had been whisked away for medical check-ups, and while he had gotten out fairly quickly, with only a few scrapes and bruises that needed attending to, Spock had been carted back for a full surgery on his injuries and no one had been allowed back for several hours. 

“He’ll be alright, Bones,” Jim was saying soothingly as Bones snarled at the nurse who was blocking his path. “You did a good job patching him up, he’ll be just fine.” 

“Did you get a medical degree, recently?” Bones snapped before storming over to Jim, getting to work double checking his injuries; he needed something to do with his hands while he was fretting and Jim’s still-injured face was the closest thing to him right now. 

“I’m fine, Bones- ow!” Jim grinned as he tried to get his friend to stop lightly prodding at his bruises. 

“Leonard McCoy? James Kirk?” a nurse called. Bones popped up from rubbing a regenerative cream on Jim’s black eye. “Spock has requested to see you both.” 

“‘Bout damn time,” Bones snapped, his fingers a rabid blur of tapping as he made his way through the doors. 

“He’s really sorry,” Jim told the nurse as he tagged after his friend, rubbing the cream into his skin. “He gets angry when he’s worried.” 

The nurse sighed. “I know the type, follow me.” 

When Jim reached the room, Bones was already there, reading over Spock’s chart, his eyes occasionally flicking up to survey the vulcan. 

“He’s in a healing trance but it’s light,” the nurse was saying as Jim moved around to the head of the bed. “The cauterizing you gave him was crude but it saved his life.” 

Bones scowled. “I’m a doctor, not a welder,” he grumbled. 

She rolled her eyes. “I’ll leave you two with him, he should be up in a few minutes.” 

“Thank you!” Jim called after her as she left. “What does the chart say?” 

“Well according to this it appears his--”

“Actually don’t tell me, I won’t know what you’re saying,” Jim cut him off, dragging a chair over, sitting as close to the bed as the machines would allow before gently straightening Spock’s hair where it had fallen out of place. Bones watched them, feeling a mixture of emotions. 

Spock and Jim… Yeah it was supposed to be Spock and Jim, he knew that. Their famous friendship, their bond that stretched across universes. Of course it was Spock and Jim. 

Bones cleared his throat that was suddenly sticky and gave Jim his half smile. “Alright, well, I’ve done my part, I’ll leave you to it.” 

Jim frowned. “What do you mean? He asked for both of us.” 

Bones waved him away. “Oh, you know he only asked me back to scare the nurses away so you could sit beside him,” Bones was rubbing his forefinger against his thumb as he spoke, hoping it was out of sight of Jim who would instantly clock it as one of his ‘upset’ stims, “I’ll trot off, I’m sure he’ll want to talk to you alone when he wakes up.” 

“Bones--” 

“Leonard where are you going?” 

Bones stopped in the doorway, his fingers going back to their anxious tapping rhythm.

He turned around. 

Spock was struggling up onto his elbows, and dammit if Bones wasn’t a doctor first. 

“Spock, dammit, don’t do that.” He moved across the room and carefully helped Spock back down. “You only just got your innards stitched up, don’t wanna tear anything.” 

“You were leaving,” Spock said, his sharp brown eyes locking Bones in his place. 

“Course I was.” Bones said gruffly, moving one of his hands away from Spock to fluff his pillow. “Didn’t figure y’all needed me when Jim was already here with ya.” 

Spock frowned. “Is it human custom to not fulfill deals?” 

Bones felt his cheeks heat up. Spock was looking at him, his eyes wide but serious, flicking down to the hand Bones had on his chest. 

“I, well I gotta say, didn’t think you would remember,” Bones said, trying to cut the tension with a smirk. “Guess that computer brain is good for somethin’, huh?” 

“My brain is good for many things, Leonard.” Spock held out two fingers and looked up. 

Bones bounced on the balls of his feet, reaching to rub the back of his neck. “Listen, Spock, you don’t gotta…” 

“I have thought of nothing but our agreement since we left the cave, Leonard, please.” He held up his fingers more insistently. “I am unaware of the location of the cows you mentioned but I am under the assumption they are not home yet.” 

Bones blushed again and then bounced one last time before carefully pressing his fingers to Spock’s. The doctor heard soft noise falling from his surprised mouth as Spock curled his fingers around Bones’ holding him fast. 

“I have no clue what is happening, are you two kissing?” 

Bones nearly jumped out of his skin, Spock’s fingers following his as he startled. “Dammit, Jim!” Bones snapped, his ears blazing with embarrassment as he looked at his grinning friend. 

“Spock, are you and Bones kissing?” Jim asked in delight, looking down at the vulcan in question. 

“We are exchanging a vulcan kiss, Jim,” Spock responded, his eyes never leaving Bones’ flushed face “I realize it looks quite different than a human kiss but I assure you it is what is happening.” 

“Thank god!” Jim laughed, looking up to Bones with glittering blue eyes and a blinding smile. “He’s been mooning over you since we started on the damn five year mission, if I had known all it was gonna take was Spock almost bleeding out I would have stabbed him ages ago.” 

“I am glad you didn’t, Jim.” 

“How--?” Bones stuttered, very aware that Spock had not let his fingers go yet. “How am I just now hearing about this?” he demanded. 

“I requested the captain not tell you,” Spock said at the same time Jim said “because you’re an idiot!” 

“Why, I oughta--!” Bones lunged toward Jim, who scrambled up from his seat with a laugh. 

“I gotta go tell Scotty!” he yelled over his shoulder as he hop-stepped out of the room. Bones made to move after him but felt Spock’s fingers lace around his and hold him still. 

“I would request you not leave just yet.” 

Bones was blushing still but he sighed and thunked himself down in the chair Jim had just vacated, reorienting himself so he was holding Spock’s other hand. He anxiously rubbed his thumb over Spock’s knuckles. “Gonna rip that corn-fed bastard’s eyebrows off when I see him again,” Bones muttered. 

Spock squeezed his hand, and Bones looked down at him, tracing the delicate point of his ear with his eyes. “I… sorry I didn’t…” Bones shuffled his feet. 

“I am unaware of why you are apologizing, Leonard,” Spock said and Bones let out a huff. 

“I dunno know what else to say is all.” 

“A human defect, the need to always say something.” 

“A vulcan defect to be the biggest asshole in the room.” 

Bones heard a soft snort of laughter and glanced down at Spock who was smiling again. Bones watched his rounded cheeks, tinged with green, his sparkling dark brown eyes, his head bobbing slightly on the pillow. “Spock, can I…?” 

“I am at a loss of understanding as to why it has taken you this long.” 

“Why, you little…” 

It was not a kiss for the ages; the angle was weird and Spock’s mouth tasted bad and they were both tired and running out of adrenaline. But Spock was alive and safe and he was staying on the ship… staying with Bones. 

Bones pressed their still-joined hands to his chest and squeezed them as he pulled back from the kiss. 

“Have the cows reached their homes yet?” Spock asked, clearly tired and fighting sleep. 

“Not yet, honey,” Bones replied, “but I promise not to let go of your hand until you wake up then we can do that all over again.” 

Spock nodded, a tired smile on his lips as he settled back into bed. “That is agreeable.” 


End file.
